Freelance journalist Rahul Verma has a four page feature on acid house and the rise of dance music in India, in the March issue of Mixmag the UK’s longest running dance music magazine. More of Rahul’s ramblings on music, the arts and culture can be found at rebel without a pause.

London based DJ and multi-instrumentalist Bisha could soon be rocking your world, musically. The musician, born to Bengali parents and recently turned 24, has just released her debut album: Nights at the Circus.

There is much undergound hype surrounding this young lady, much of it unsurprising given her debut single: Never Seen Your Face, is brilliant. See the video below. Though, we prefer the bass-laden live performance viewable here. Another good performance of the same track is here.

According to the biography on her website, she was born in Earls Court to a musical family; her mother is still an EMI signed artist. She has studied Sitar at The Ravi Shankar School for Music and has a passion for English & East European folk, progressive pop & electronica. Her inspirations: Ananda Shankar, Wendy Carlos, Vashti Bunyan and Bjork.

She will also feature on Desi DNA tonight on BBC2 at 11:20pm.
[Hat tip: the New York based gossip site Daily Cherez]

Check out:
Her website / Her myspace page

The Dhol Foundation returns with a third album next month, featuring an array of vocalists, instruments and sounds. The album, titled Drums & Roses, has been written by the group’s founder Johnny Kalsi.

He says: “This album has been a release of lots of manifested emotions and feelings I have cooped up. A real weight off my shoulders and a well deserved trophy at the end of it all.” After starting out with the bhangra band Alaap, Kalsi moved on to join and tour with World Music bands from across the globe. In 1989 he launched the Dhol Foundation academy, which has since grown to around 400 students in locations across Britain.

Drums & Roses releases on 17 March 2008 via TDF Records.
Media contact: Pedro Carvalho at FNIK PR: pedro@ethnicnow.com.
www.dholfoundation.com / myspace.com/thedholfoundation

National digital radio station BBC Asian Network launches its biggest marketing campaign to date from next week across television, radio and online. Dubbed: The New Sound of Asian Britain, it launches on Monday 4th February and profiles the Network’s passion for the best in Asian music and culture.

The TV trail, to be shown on BBC TV, creates a new musical soundtrack from many shorter musical scenes layered and looped together. It mixes modern influences like drummers and DJs with more traditional Asian sounds and instruments including Bollywood singing.

The campaign consists of: 1 x 30sec TV brand trail; 2 x 10 second TV appointment to listen trails; online game where you can ‘Mix your own desi track’; onliner banner campaign; and radio trails. It will feature award winning Bobby Friction, Hip Hop turntablist, DJ Kayper, rapper Mumzy and Bhangra singer H Dhami.

Virtuoso table player Kuljit Bhamra has been appointed the artistic director at spnm – a membership organisation founded in 1943 to promote and launch new music. In particular it aims to find the best of the next generation of composers and has launched the careers of many of the UK’s leading composers.

Bhamra, who has recorded over two thousand songs to date, is a self-taught composer, producer and tabla player. He worked on the film scores of
Bhaji on the Beach, Bend it like Beckham, Alexander the Great, The Guru, A Little Princess, Wings of a Dove, The Four Feathers, Brick Lane and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In 2002, he joined forces with Andrew Lloyd Webber for the West End musical Bombay Dreams and he spent the next two years appearing as an on-stage percussionist.

He also acted as Indian Music Consultant and wrote music for the musical adaptation of The Far Pavilions, and in 2005 re-worked the Bee Gee’s popular seventies hit Staying Alive, which became the first instrumental to top the Sunrise Radio people’s chart. spnm will celebrate the announcement with a party and live performance by Kuljit Bhamra on Thursday February 21st from 6pm at the trendy lounge bar Piya Piya, London.
[Media contact: Mary Rahman for after-party.]
Continue reading…

The desi band Swami has moved away from its traditional sound to something more globalised for its upcoming album – Equalize.

They say: “Previous Swami albums were more of an exploration into the British-Asian club experience of London and Birmingham… However, in the futuristic globalized music era, as leading pioneers of British urban music, Swami are making bolder and bigger statements by seeking out much wider inspiration.”

“The brand new album ‘Equalize’ ventures way beyond the local London studios with a new found excitement of globe hopping melodies, crossing rhythms and languages unlike any predecessor.”

Their latest single – Hey hey – was recently number 2 1 on the BBC Asian Network chart.
www.swamimusic.com

The Boston Globe newspaper features a story on AIM magazine’s very own Komal Trivedi, who helped launch this magazine all those years ago. Komal presents an early Thursday morning show on Boston College’s WZBC radio station.

Trivedi also enjoys showcasing the work of her contemporaries, including Talvin Singh and Nitin Sawhney, who pioneered Asian Underground. The British Asian artists helped create the genre by spicing up classical South Asian beats with modern dance music, heavy on electronics.

Asian Underground burst into the British mainstream in the 1990s, but Trivedi says that when she moved to the Boston area three years ago, this type of music was difficult to find, especially on the radio.

Trivedi was eager to fill the void, so a colleague at WGBH, where Trivedi is an executive assistant, suggested that she approach the Boston College station, where the colleague worked as a DJ in his spare time. The colleague showed Trivedi the ropes at WZBC, and just over a year ago “Bricklane Beats” was born.

Read the whole feature.

Two music videos with a difference have received nominations for a prestigious Royal Television Society Award. Here’s the twist; both ‘Change The Way’ and ‘One Life To Live’ were made by inmates at Swinfen Hall, a youth offenders institute in Lichfield, Staffordshire, as part of the ground-breaking Sonic [db] project.

Wolverhampton based filmmakers, Rainmaker-VF, worked alongside musician Keith Dilworth and facilitator Sharon Jones of Handsworth based ‘Sister Tree’ to help the troubled young men make their music videos. The Rainmaker filmmaking team were comprised of Davinder Claire, Alex Crowton and Balwant Dass.

The Royal Television Society Awards take place on October 27th 2007.

Singer, songwriter and composer Shahin Badar, whose vocals featured on dance band Prodigy’s controversial single “Smack my bitch up” was presented the prestigious Glory of India award by the India International Friendship Society (IIFS). The event was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

She spent her youth growing up in Colchester, Kuwait and India learning to sing in several languages. Signed to Times Music in India, Shahin’s current album is due for full release in UK and will be titled ‘Laila’.

Music and a real-life story are being used to improve the levels of awareness of hepatitis C among the South Asian community.

The ‘My Story’ CD has been created by the Department of Health’s FaCe It hepatitis C awareness campaign and features music from some of the world’s hottest Asian artists, including Kamaal Khan, Hadiqa Kiani and Adnan Sami. The tracks surround a frank interview by top TV health presenter Yasmin Qureshi with Shabana Begum, a Pakistani woman who recounts her experience with hepatitis C, a virus which affects the liver. The CD also features advice from healthcare professionals about transmission routes and available treatment.

Although hepatitis C can affect anyone from any background, there is emerging evidence that the prevalence within the South Asian community in this country may be higher than in the general population.

Pakistan’s top pop artists have gathered together for the first time to record Yeh Hum Naheen, which has become a smash hit across the country. The song denounces terrorism throughout the world and says that true Muslims do not support terrorism.

The track, featuring the vocal talents of Pakistan’s biggest artists such as Haroon, Ali Haider, Ali Zafar, Strings, Shufqat Amanat Ali and Hadiqa Kiani and will be released on FNIK Music in the UK via iTunes and mainstream outlets on July 16th 2007. The song has been written by Ali Moeen, one of Pakistan’s leading lyricist, while the music has been arranged by Shuja Haider, who is one of Pakistan’s most well known music composers.

The song was the brainchild of writer Waseem Mahmood: “The idea behind “Yeh Hum Naheen” came about because my children were fed up with the way in which some misguided people were high-jacking Islam and putting forward a message of radicalization and terrorism which was at odds with what the majority of Muslims believe. My children told me that I had to do something to stop this perception and thus the “Yeh Hum Naheen” concept was born!”

Media contact: FNIK PR on 07831 556 951 / fnik@btconnect.com

DJ San-j-Sanj is working on a new project, with backing from a major international record company, to compile an album for the 60th independance day of India and Pakistan in August

“I need songs for the album which reflect peace, none of the lyrics should look back to 60 years ago or any mention of India or Pakistan or any country. The album is about world peace, you can sing about war, knife/gun culture etc and in any language,” he told AIM magazine.

There is no cash advance budget but there will be a contract for royalties on sales. An ad campaign and video is also planned. Interested musicians can get in touch by email: bollyparty@hotmail.com

On June 16th BBC Asian Network will launch a flagship Bollywood show called Love Bollywood. Passionate and irreverent in style, the four-hour show every Saturday will focus on the latest Bollywood releases and star interviews. Another four-hour show on Sunday will provide industry hits – classic and new – that shape the world’s biggest film industry.

Sheetal Parmar, the show’s producer says of the new show, “Love Bollywood is an in depth look at Bollywood films, the stars and the industry, but for the first time, it’ll be predominantly about the audience and their experience of it. Many British Asians have been brought up with Bollywood and it’s a part of their cultural make up whether they like it or not! It’s ambitious and bold, and very exciting to be able to produce something like this.”

Bollywood aficionados Raj& Pablo will be presenting on Saturday, whilst Asian Network and Zee TV’s Murtz will present on Sunday with Rajini Vaidynathan, from Radio 1.

Rajini says: “People might think it’s a bit odd me doing this with a background from News, but anyone who knows me will know I’m mad about Bollywood, just like most British Asians who’ve been brought up on a diet of Bollywood films. I’m really happy to be involved with something so different, and to be able to indulge in a guilty pleasure!”

The British Film Institute is collaborating with Nitin Sawhney and the London Symphony Orchestra to present a live accompaniment to a very rare silent film film called A Throw of Dice in Trafalgar Square on Thursday 30th August.

The film has been restored by the BFI. It is a splendid epic of love and loss where a woman’s fate relies on A Throw of Dice.

Directed by Franz Osten, a German, it was filmed in India and is a very rare example of an early film made in India. It is also hugely entertaining and Nitin Sawhney’s score (soon to be released on CD) makes for a very special experience.

Lord of the Rings, the first major stage adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic trilogy, will premiere in London at Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Tuesday 19 June. The production has been billed by critics as a mesmerising and spectacular theatrical event, featuring an ensemble of over 70 actors, singers and musicians.

It will feature music by Bollywood composer, A.R. Rahman, along with performances from Finland’s most contemporary folk music group, Värttinä.

The world famous musician Anoushka Shankar will play in London next week, with three select performances around the country. Following on from the success of her album ‘Rise’ on EMI / Angel last year, Anoushka continues to give the sitar new expression in a modern context connecting new audiences to this experience with her unmistakable charisma and talent.

Her new music forms the basis of ‘The Anoushka Shankar Project’, in which she continues to develop her own individual voice, drawing on her classical Indian musical roots to create novel forms and expression.
2 June – Wychwood Festival
3 June – Liverpool
4 June – QEH London
Media contact: Pedro at Fnik PR on 07831 556 9951 or fnik@btconnect.com

Teenager Harpal Mudhar from Essex has won the 2007 Young Drummer of the Year award beating over 440 other contestants. He is the first British Asian to do so .

On his website he says: “I am currently working with my bands and recording with them, as well as playing with many other musicians. Over the next few months I will be busy preparing for and drumming at a number of events around the country including – Opening DrummerLive 2007 and being part of the Back2theBeat clinics at the event, playing at National Drum Fair, Clinic tours with Steve Timms, Charity concerts as well as playing and touring with my bands.”

Last week the London Mayor Ken Livingstone held the launch party for the annual London Mela. The event, says his office, is one of the only melas in the country to commission new work and provide a platform for emerging British artists as well as bringing traditional and classical art forms to a wider audience.

This year’s Mela is one of the featured events in ‘India Now’, a festival celebrating Indian culture in London, which takes place from July to September 2007. The Mela will take place on Sunday 12th August in Gunnersbury Park. BBC Asian Network will remain its key media partner.

Asian Network has announced its summer schedule of Live Music Events 2007, taking the station and artists to platforms and stages across the country. At its zenith the station will be taking over the Roots Stage on Friday night at Glastonbury with Asian Dub Foundation headlining.

The launchpad begins bank holiday weekend 26/27th May at Paradise Gardens, in Victoria Park, London. It will present live music from: Riz MC; Paris Amore; Sona Family; Nasha Collective; Sunit & Raxstar; Sukh Knight; DJ Vix; Shiva Sound System; Nathan Flutebox Lee; and Asian Network/ Radio 1 DJ Bobby Friction.

You can see the full, 2 day line up and as well the full summer schedule of where Asian Network will be out and about by logging on to bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork/events

Surrey based producer Groove Guru, aka Trevor Pinto, is one among other acclaimed musicians to feature on the chillout series New Sound Theory, Vol. 4 – Tiger Lounge. Published by BasicLux Records USA, the album contains a blend of smooth house, bossa nova, downtempo, lush electronica and chillout music.

As a DJ Groove Guru has performed in famous nightspots all over the world. As an A & R manager he has worked with Stereo Nation, Pentagram, Raju Singh, Hema Sardesai, Sonu Nigam, Shankar Mahadevan and among others. He released his first single, Palolem Karma, in February ’06 followed by his 2nd single, Travel Shanti, in March 06 through Spice Global Records.
www.grooveguru.co.uk

The acclaimed group State of Bengal have released their fourth album, Skip-iJ, through Betelnut Records. It is the creation of Sam Zaman, the man behind State of Bengal, who produced and recorded the album over a period of 3 years in his living room in East London.

The album contains collaborations and contributions from traditional and contemporary musicians and singers from across the globe. The band say the unusual title “refers to music that is not defined by a particular period and has the ability to skip through the ages”.

Since forming in 1987, State of Bengal have regularly toured internationally. Sam Zaman has worked with Bjork, Massive Attack, Ananda Shankar, Jolly Mukherjee and Paban Das Baul among others. Their track Flight IC408 was recently featured on the new Mira Nair film Namesake.
The album is available through stateofbengal.com and betelnut-records.com and myspace.com/stateofbengal. The band plan to tour the USA and Turkey this year to promote the album.

Media contact Nina Naran on nina@mediabitch.com.

Composer, producer and tabla player Kuljit Bhamra has collaborated with composer and musician Alwynne Pritchard for an album, titled Subterfuge Invitro, to be released on May 21st. Alwynne is also BBC Radio 3’s ‘Hear & Now’ presenter and teacher of composition at Trinity College of Music London.

Alwynne’s music has been performed by numerous European players and ensembles including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Arditti String Quartet and The London Sinfonietta.

Kuljit Bhamra, known for producing soundtracks for films including Bhaji on the Beach and ‘Bend It Like Beckham, and theatre productions such as The Far Pavilions and Deranged Marriage, recently released his album Himalaya Dawn.

More recently Bhamra and Andy Sheppard performed their music for the Queen and Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey as part of Observance for Commonwealth Day 2007.
www.kuljitbhamra.com / www.alwynnepritchard.co.uk
Media contact: Pat Tynan 01895 636935 / pattynan@btinternet.com

Soul singer Karen David’s debut EP, Alive, has been released through download outlets such as iTunes and Napster. The actress and singer is better known for her parts in Batman Begins, Bollywood Queen and more recently Provoked. She also had part in the West-end hit Mamma Mia and was the lead in Tamasha Theatre’s Strictly Dandiya on its second tour.

She has been focusing more on her music of late. The EP features her often performed song ‘Carry Me Home’ and features AR Rahman, Bombay Dub Orchestra and others. The EP also includes the song ‘Alive’, featured on Provoked.

Karen is working to finish her debut album for an Autumn release this year.
myspace.com/karendavid

The talented pianist Zoe Rahman has unveiled a series of performance dates around the country. Firmly establishing herself as one of the brightest stars on contemporary jazz scene, her most recent album, ‘Melting Pot’, was short-listed for the Mercury Prize and was voted ‘Jazz Album of the Year’ at the 2006 Parliamentary Jazz Awards.

Born in Chichester, UK, Zoe studied music at Oxford University. She has since built up an interesting CV, playing punky worldbeat with Terry Hall and Mushtaq (Fun Da Mental), trancey Arabic folk with singer Reem Kelani, and superior hard bop with drummer Clark Tracey, as well as writing for the theatre.

13th and 14th April; Pizza Express Jazz Club, Dean Street, London.
Saturday 28th April; The Drum, Birmingham

More dates on her website

The film festival Tongues on Fire will close its annual month-long event and celebrate the achievements of the legendary Bollywood dancer, Helen, who sizzled her way through many cabaret numbers from the 1950s – 1970s with a dance competition this weekend.

Helen, who is of English and Burmese parentage entered Hindi cinema as a chorus girl, but her first major hit was dancing to the number, Mera Nam Chin Chin Chu for the film, Howrah Bridge, 1958, by O.P. Nayyar. Other memorable songs include Mehbooba from Sholay, Yeh Mera Dil from Don and the classic, Piya Tu Ab To Aa Jaa from Caravan. According to author Jerry Pinto, Helen is reputed to have performed in over 500 films, and was nick-named “H-Bomb” at the height of her career.

Tongues on Fire & Sare-gama, plc, will launch a souvenir CD of songs from the hit films of Helen, who will be the special guest at the Closing Gala. There will also be a dance competition at the event.
Saturday 31 March, 7pm, New Players Theatre
www.tonguesonfire.com